Halo & Avatar Retaliation
by Flex Nard
Summary: 382 years after Jake Sully's adventure on Pandora, the humans have returned. But this time they are packing much heavier artillery. Can the Na’vi survive the UNSC? Can their warriors fare against a Spartan? Read the story to find out!
1. Chapter One: On Horizon

**Avatar/Halo- Retaliation **

The UNSC Frigate _On the Horizon_ slowly crept through the milky blackness of space. The sleek grey ship; had just recently exited slipspace. The hull of the mighty ship shuddered as the Shaw-Fujikawa drive slowly turned off.

Like all UNSC Frigates, _On the Horizon_ was remotely shaped like a huge rifle. The ship featured few windows, and looked to be a tangle of symmetrical squares and triangles meshed together. Protruding from the back of the ship were two huge engines, and two smaller ones that splattered yellow fire into the void of space.

Admiral Brian Conner paced the metal flooring on the bridge of _On the Horizon. _His right hand felt at the small unshaved stubble that dotted his chin. Admiral Brian was a middle aged man who looked good for his age. He had short, buzz shaved blonde hair; that was flecked with grey on the sides.

His blonde brows were usually furrowed with concentration. He had two pristine blue eyes and a small furry mustache on his upper lip. Brian was remarkably tall; he stood at 6'4 inches, and towered over his lieutenants and fellow bridge crew. Brian was dressed in grey fatigues, and a matching cap.

Brian looked out of the large windows of the bridge. A huge gas giant dominated the view. The planet's name was Polyphemus and it was the second of three gas giants that orbited the system's star, Alpha Centauri A. The uninhabitable planet's, massive red and orange clouds swirled endlessly. Brian admired the gas giant, thinking of similar planets like Jupiter and Hesoid, of the 23 Librae system. Polyphemus had no rings and it was slightly smaller and denser than Jupiter.

Alpha Centauri A was in the same galaxy as Earth, the Milky Way. It is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus.

The most notable feature of Polyphemus, was it's fourteen moons. Brian eyes then fell on the most striking of the many moons, which humans had come to call, Pandora. Pandora looked like a minuscule Earth from Brian's distance. It had similar white billowing clouds, dark blue oceans, and vibrant green continents. Pandora was also about the size of Earth.

Brian gazed at the shimmering moon for quite some time. It had been many years since anyone had traveled to Pandora. The last human voyage to Pandora had happened in 2154. Brian felt amazed that it had taken humans approximately 377 years to return to the blue planet.

Brian had read the reports; the first venture on Pandora had been a total failure.

Brian knew why the UNSC had then worked so hard to wipe the memory of Pandora from everyone's memories. The place was dangerous, and they didn't want to admit their failure. The _Innies_ would have gone all over that.

No, the war with the Insurrectionists, and then the war with the Covenant had all but drained the UNSC resources and attention. They had no time to pay for future trips to Pandora, the place had become obsolete.

It made Brian think how fast technology had advanced in the 377 years since the last trip to Pandora. It had taken the last marines 5 years, 9 months and 22 days to reach Pandora, without a slipspace drive.

The journey had taken _On the Horizon_ only a few days. Brian had been sent here to finish where the RDA failed. He was going to obtain the planet's resources and then leave. The UNSC needed resources, the Covenant had all but sucked them dry; partly because of the destruction of nearly every Outer Colony world and many of the Inner Colony worlds as well.

Brian knew if he failed his mission he would be out of his job, demoted, and probably teaching, or working as a drill sergeant for the rest of his life. No, that wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to fail the UNSC, he was going to leave Pandora with every ounce of Unobtainium that it had, or he was going to die trying.

Brian walked away from the window, and looked over to the holographic image of the ships AI's avatar.

The ships AI, Miara swept a piece of curly brown hair from her right eye. She had chosen herself the image of a beautiful and striking angel; intact with wings and all. Miara looked at Brian, and her purple glow brightened slightly. "Your orders Admiral?" she asked.

Brian rubbed his chin again, "Send out the Pelicans. I want the Spartans ground side ASAP."


	2. Chapter Two: Pandora's Box

**Chapter Two: Pandora's Box**

The lone Pelican-dropship swooped low over the green jungle below. Large tree's swayed beneath the ship as it cut through Pandora's atmosphere.

Inside the dropship there were two rows of seats inside the back of the Pelican, one on the left and right side, each facing each other. Occupying these seats was a group of armored figures. They were all clad in a suit of dark-green MJOLNIR Mark IV Powered Assault Armor. These were no average UNSC soldiers; they were Spartans, the pinnacle of war. Each of their armors was in reality advanced exoskeleton suits; one of the most advanced pieces of technology in human hands.

The leader of the squad turned and looked at his comrades. This was his platoon, Hammer Team. Each of the eight Spartan's present had a unique set of MJOLNIR armor, none of them were fully identical; however, each shared similar aspects.

One thing each of the individual armor's had in common; was the emblem of an orange hammer with a golden lightning bolt crossing the weapon. This was the icon of Hammer Team, it was a symbol of the team's identity; they couldn't be prouder to wear it.

Keith-032 was the leader of Hammer Team. 032 was a handsome individual. He had pale olive skin; from wearing his armor so often. His hair was sleek and dark brown, and was slightly long and messy, but hardly covered his ears, and descended down to his brow line.

He has a square chin that was unshaven, and covered in black stubble. Keith had two intense forest green eyes and a scar that crosses the bridge of his nose. He stands at 7'3'' and weighs over 657 pounds when fully armored.

Beneath the armored exoskeleton Keith is intensely muscled and well toned, deep scars cover his back, chest and shoulders, signs of past battles and violent training. Keith's MJOLNIR armor unlike the others featured a secondary color of light green.

The other seven Spartan's included: Ammon-042, Cody-038, Ashlynn-023, Caden-54, Michael-094, Rachel-063, and Kane-012.

The Hammer Team leader currently had his helmet off and was staring at the rest of his squad. "This is it boys and girls. Strap up, the shit is about to hit the fan." He barked at his men.

Taking a deep breath Keith began to think about the mission at hand. This is Hammer Team's first major mission, and already things look like they could get out of hand. He thought.

A voice suddenly came over the Pelican's speakers; it was Horizon's AI, Miara.

"We are now entering Pandora's atmosphere." she said. While Miara spoke Keith was tinkering with his helmet, strapping a tube to a nodule on it, and connecting it to a piece of equipment recently installed into his armor.

"Before we touch down, there is some stuff you have to know if you want to survive. So listen to the lady" Keith said referring to Miara.

Spartan Ammon-042 grinned. "I think we can handle some half naked blue-aboriginals." He chuckled.

Keith didn't join in on the other's laughter. "Believe me; you don't want to open Pandora's Box." Keith replied.

"Everything down there wants to kill us on sight. This planet is filled with perfect predators." He said.

Maria started again. "Pandora's atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, xenon, methane, and hydrogen sulfide."

"The high concentration of carbon dioxide in the Pandoran atmosphere makes it extremely poisonous to humans and will kill any human in four minutes."

"The hydrogen sulfide present is also quite poisonous; large concentrations can cause an immediate collapse with subsequent loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath." The AI said.

Keith listened. "So pretty much if you breathe the air, your shit out of luck." Keith said.

"Luckily we have installed a special oxygen filtration system into each of your suits. This mean as long as you keep on your helmet your fine. I've rigged the filtration system to only enter out helmets, and sealed off the rest of the suit. This means that if your armor is breeched, as long as you're still wearing your helmet your not going to meet the big guy anytime soon." Maria replied.

"Well that's a relief." Ashlynn-023 interjected sarcastically.

"That's not the end of it." Miara chuckled in her synthesized voice.

"The atmosphere here is very dense; combine that with increased air resistance, and a twenty-percent lower gravity than earth, that allows objects to fall at a much slower rate, and life-forms the ability to survive falls that would normally kill them, especially if they are over a forested area or water, with something to slow their falls further." She said briskly.

"The increased mass of the air means that more force is needed to accelerate as it is moved out of the path of a moving object. When you run it will feel like a wind is blowing against you even when the air is still, giving you slight resistance"

"The reduced gravity will also cause our boots to slip more frequently than they normally would on paved or smooth surfaces, which will give you less traction to force your bodies forward." Miara said.

"Sounds like a workout." Michael-094 added.

Keith ran a hand over his chin, feeling his stubble, it was an involuntary action he did while thinking. "Miara, you still need to tell us what the hell we are doing once we touch down." He said.

Miara's avatar appeared on a pedestal to Keith's right. The purple angel put her hands on her hips. "I was getting there." She said pursing her lips. Miara then relaxed.

"Your orders come straight from Admiral Conner." She said. Miara fixed her translucent eyes on Keith's own. "Since it has been approximately 382 years since humans have been to Pandora, we predict that the military and science labs from before have been retaken by the jungle. That makes it impossible to land in the old landing zones."

"We are going to land about five miles away from the old base, it's as close as we can get. You're going to take your team through the jungle and to the base."

"Try to avoid any hostile locals that you may come in contact with; The Admiral doesn't want a war. Once you get to the base, you are going to clear it of any animal or local activity that may be present."

"After that, our intelligence reports that several machines and old military equipment were left behind." "You are going to clear off one of the landing zones as best as you can so we can get some teams down there to start making the place habitable."

"Any questions?" she asked.

"I think we can take care of it miss." Keith said shaking his head.

Miara's then gave him a sly smile. "Oh, and I forgot to mention. I'm coming with you." She said.

Keith raised his brows. "Are you allowed to do that?" he asked.

Miara nodded. "Yes. I am splitting my processors, and leaving some of myself behind on Horizon. But Connor wants me to make sure you guys don't get yourself killed. Spartans aren't cheap you know." She said.

Keith laughed. "No shit." He said.

"Alright Spartan, yank me." She said. Her image faded and then dispersed, and a small holo-disc protruded from a slot on the pedestal, where Miara had transferred herself to an already present disc from her main on Horizon.

Keith grabbed the chip, and turned his helmet over on his lap. He then inserted the chip into an available slot.

"Great, that's exactly what I needed. A woman in my head back-seat driving." He mumbled. Keith raised up his helmet and pulled it down over his head. It clicked on perfectly. Keith's eyes adjusted to the orange shield in front of his eyes, and his HUD blinked on before him.

"I heard that." Miara said in what sounded like Keith's own head.

"Of coarse you did." He sighed.

Keith then grabbed his MA5K Carbine. He loaded the gun and set it against his shoulder.

"Lock and load people." Keith said. He watched as his squad began pulling on their helmets, and securing their gear.

After listening to Miara, Keith relayed a message to his Spartans; "Four minutes till landing." He said.

Once all of the Spartans had their helmets on, Keith got out of his seat and walked over to the blast-door of the Pelican. He hit a button on the door, and it began to open. Wind rushed into the room, and Keith could feel the pressure change as the hatch was opened.

Keith was walking back to his seat when suddenly a loud shattering sound filled the ship. Because of his training, milliseconds after the sound began his eyes were already locating the sound. Keith watched as a very long arrow cracked through the cockpit window, and embedded itself in the head of the driver. Blood splattered onto the slate floor of the Pelican.

Keith knew the driver was dead, but he didn't have time to worry. Only instincts kicked in now. Seconds later the ship went into free fall. All of the Spartans shouted as they were lifted out of their seats and smashed into the metal roof above. Keith knew there was no way to get to the cockpit and take control; the Pelican was already too close to the ground. He and his men had two options: either stay in the ship and possibly die by an explosion or powerful collision, or take their chances jumping out of the back.

Keith remembered what Miara had said about the rate of falling on Pandora. He knew that they had more of a chance if they jumped out.

Keith looked at his Spartans. "Follow me Spartans!" he said. Keith steeled himself; turning his head onto the blurry scenery before him and flung himself out of the hatch of the Pelican.

032 flew out and into open air. He went spread eagle and prepared to brace himself for what happened next. He could feel his own heart pumping in his ears. He could feel his adrenaline picking up, and the air tearing at his armor. His stomach went into his head as he saw the ground far below him, and himself way up in the blue sky.

A sick feeling filled Keith's body and he felt as if he was going to barf. He turned his head back to see his seven comrades flinging themselves out of the falling Pelican as he did. He watched as the massive ship tumbled above them. In some ways the fall felt like it took a lifetime, but in others it felt like seconds.

Next thing Keith knew he slammed into the top of a tree, then a massive branch, next a huge leafy plant, and several more that helped cushion his fall. Then the ground came racing to meet him. Even in full armor the impact hurt. It jarred practically every bone in Keith's body, and sent up a spray of dirt into the air. He crashed down- helmet first; his HUD blinking off when he smashed into the earth.

Still lying in the ground the Spartan leader looked up and noticed that his vision was hazy. He shook his head to rid himself of it but the haze did not depart. Keith tried to move but found he was too weak. He felt the ground shake with a massive impact and knew the Pelican had crashed. Keith's vision then went dark, and all he saw was blackness.

A Covenant CPV-class heavy destroyer, Righteous Fury continued to cut through slipspace.

Kruhan Vakanree stood by Fury's luminary. A luminary is a device used to locate Forerunner artifacts, technology and Forerunner descendants (Reclaimers/humans).

Kruhan Vakanree continued to examine the luminary, looking for anything of interest. Suddenly an unknown planet was displayed on the device. The small hologram of the planet rotated. As Kruhan watched hundreds of small runic-blue-glowing icons appeared on the planet. Kruhan knew this certain symbol to mean that Forerunner artifacts were located on this planet. The Elite's eyes grew wider as he continued to gaze at the planet.

A euphoric feeling coursed through Kruhan. I must tell the others. This finding could change the fate of our journey. He thought.

The Sangheili's mandibles twitched as he left the luminary and made his way to the bridge.


	3. Chapter Three: Prey

**Chapter Three: Prey**

Keith slowly regained consciousness. His mind buzzed, as a calm voice echoed in his head. "Keith? Are you alright?" Miara asked. Keith knew her question was rhetorical, Smart AI's like Miara were the perfect multi-tasker, she was probably sorting a thousand files that second, while also checking each of his vital signs for damage. The first thing the Spartan did after he peeled himself from the earth was grab his MA5K Carbine. Keith stood erect, and quickly checked the surrounding area with the barrel of his weapon.

"You check out, try not to scare a girl like that will you?" Miara said.

"Sorry, my first priority is staying alive, not pleasing my girlfriend." He said sarcastically. Even though Miara wasn't human she sure acted like one, it was hard for Keith not to treat her like one.

Miara giggled, "Stop it you're making me blush." She said. Keith was about to reply when the bushes near him suddenly began to shake. Something was in the clearing with them. Keith looked at his HUD, and saw several red unidentified blimps around the perimeter of the clearing.

"You see that?" Miara said quietly.

Suddenly one of the bushes exploded with movement; a sleek dark colored beast skidded to a stop, it turned and snarled at Keith. The creature looked to be two meters in length and one meter in height. It had an almost reptilian looking head, with an elongated serpent-like snout; the beast's snake-like maw was filled with long-brown obsidian, razor sharp teeth. The creature had two intense lime-green eyes, and what looked like a tail or antenna of some sort sticking out from each side of the back of its head. The creature was hairless and had dark black skin; it had a lithe predator shaped body. It had six legs and each paw had three toes and what looked like an opposable thumb. The beast had chitinous armor around its neck, which went down and turned to amphipod plating on the back of the neck and spine. Its tail was paddle-like and was probably used for stability.

"What the Hell is that?" Keith asked.

"That is a Viperwolf. Not much is known about them, it seems that most of the Pandora data was purged years ago," she said.

Suddenly more of the creatures began to pour out of the brush. They stood behind the other creature as if waiting for a signal. The first Viperwolf snarled again and then charged forward. As soon as the leader began it's assault the other Viperwolves sprang into action, their sleek black bodies seemed to instantly blend into the surroundings as they ran around, attempting to circle around Keith.

The first Viperwolf drew near to Keith and suddenly leapt into the air, flinging itself at Keith's armored neck. Keith was too fast for it; he grabbed the creature by the throat and slammed it into the ground. He then stuck the barrel of his gun into the creature's maw and fired off three shots. The burp of his rifle tore into the air, as the Viperwolf's head jerked back, dark red blood splattering onto Keith's armor.

Just then Keith suddenly fell forward. He could feel Viperwolves all over the back of his armor, clawing at it, and slowly draining his shields.

"Damn it…" Keith mumbled. He jumped to his feet and backpedaled to the nearest tree. He then threw himself against it, crushing some of the Viperwolves against the tree's trunk. More of the beasts were throwing themselves at Keith. Some hung onto his arms, tearing at his armor. Keith grabbed them and slung them onto the ground, crushing some under his boot, and punching others out of the air. He decided to not waist anymore ammo on these things since it was unnecessary.

When the last of the creatures were dead, Keith stood alone in the clearing once more. He sighed heavily, "This is my kind of a place." He said. His next priority was finding the rest of Hammer Team. Keith quickly scanned his motion tracker, looking for any golden blimps that could be his fellow teammates, but he saw none.

The lone Spartan slowly began to walk through the brush, looking for his comrades, or what might be left of them. His dark green exoskeleton seemed to blend in with the brush as he walked. Keith examined several strange plants as he walked, some of them even seemed to be alive, not like normal plants alive, but they had the ability to move. Everything around him was strange and new, it was a new world of bright color and outlandish plants. The place reminded Keith of one of the worlds that the Covenant could of come from, but he knew the truth, that on this planet was another race of sentient humanoids, one called the Navi'. He also knew that no animal shot the arrow that killed his pilot, and possibly his men, no that was a native, that was a Navi', and this meant war.

Keith moved his chin forward, activating his chin-mic. Keith then spoke into the mic. "This is Spartan 032, leader of Hammer Team, respond Hammer Team. Over." He said.

Keith heard nothing for several minutes, but he kept trying, he repeated his message a few times, waiting for answers before he tried again. Suddenly Keith heard a crack and then static, someone had been attempting to reply. The static was followed by a familiar voice.

"Good to hear your voice Keith, I was afraid you had decided to take a nap." It was Ammon. Keith sighed in relief to hear the voice of one of his fellow Spartans.

"What's your location?" Keith asked.

"I traced the signal, already got him." Miara said. She quickly added a NAV marker; the blue arrow on Keith's HUD pointed in the right direction, and also told him how far away his destination was.

Keith began to sprint through the bright foliage, toward where Ammon said he was located.

In a few minutes he came upon where the NAV marker stopped. He came upon another small clearing. Resting in the middle of it was what was left of the Pelican drop-ship. The air-vehicle was half submerged in the soil, and flames licked at the sides of the ship, contained by the dirt. The ship was totally upside-down and its hull was covered in large dents. Standing near the Pelican was another emerald clad Spartan. The trained warrior turned his golden visor to Keith and nodded his head.

"I awoke a few feet from this thing, lucky it didn't land on me." Ammon said, walking toward Keith.

"Have you had any word from the others?" Keith asked, looking Ammon over for injuries as he spoke, he saw none.

Ammon shook his helmet. "No, been quiet on the radio till I heard you." He said.

"You run into any hostile creatures?" Keith asked.

Ammon shook his head again. "No, saw some blue six legged monkey things though." He said.

"I ran into a pack of creatures called Viperwolves, nasty things." Keith said.

"I wonder what other hostiles they have on this forsaken planet." Ammon said, looking around like he could imagine them popping out right that moment.

Suddenly a dark figure moved from behind a tree. Instantly Keith's gun was up and pointed at it. But he quickly lowered it when he realized that it was an obsidian armored Spartan.

"Michael?" Keith said, realizing he hadn't been checking his motion tracker.

Michael approached them nodding. "In the flesh, you guys are loud as hell; I wouldn't be surprised if the whole forest heard you." He said.

"Couldn't tell us you were on your way here? Had to scare the shit out of us like you always do?" Ammon asked.

Michael nodded. "Yeah, like I always do." He chuckled.

Keith felt more relaxed with his fellow Spartans, though he would feel even better when all eight were reunited.

"Hell of an entrance we made huh?" Ammon said. Keith walked over to the downed Pelican, and stepped inside the still open backend of the ship. Walking on the roof of the pelican instead of the floor was a little trippy. Keith rummaged around the debris that filled the ship. He found a few health packets, and magnetically attached them to his belt for later. He carefully inched himself into the cockpit of the ship. Since the ship was submerged into the ground, the floor, or roof rather, was slowly sloping downwards, it was hard not to slide forward. The cockpit was filled with earth, since the window had broken. The cockpit's chair hung from the floor in front of Keith, the pilot hung motionless from it, his arms a few inches from the roof. Keith ignored the sensation of regret. He had known this pilot, hand-picked him for this mission, had used him before on missions, and now he was dead. Some scarlet blood dripped off the corpse and onto the plated roof. Keith reached up and carefully removed the pilot's dog-tags. He did this with every fellow UNSC member he found dead, it was like a ritual he could not break.

Keith then closed his hand around the massive arrow sticking out of the pilot's forehead. He tried not to look at the wide blank eyes, or the mouth screwed up in terror. A face hanging upside-down was strange enough, but a dead one was even more unnerving. Keith gave the arrow a hard tug and tore it free from the pilot's head, blood gushed into Keith's arm, but he ignored it. He carefully made his way outside and waved the arrow at Michael and Ammon.

"This was no accident, nor was it an animal. It was the Navi'. They are already engaging us in combat, I think it's time we taught them a lesson." He said; quickly snapping the arrow in half.

Ammon looked at Keith, his expressions hidden by his golden visor. "What do we do next?" he asked.

Keith thought for a moment. "Our main priority is to set up a LZ for Pelicans to land on so we can begin to assemble or planetary base." He said.

"But we can't just leave the others, we need to find them." He said.

Ammon nodded. "Right." He said. The three Spartans then moved out searching for other Spartans. Eventually they came across a golden blimp on their motion trackers. All three of them broke into sprints as they ran for the blimp; before they knew it the came across the form of a Spartan lying in a small crater. Instantly Ashlynn Spartan 0-23 flashed across Keith's HUD, identifying her. Not that he needed it, her own armor upgrades were unique, and her visor was a pale blue not gold like the others.

Keith squatted down next to Ashlynn. He could see the rise of her chest through her armor. "She's breathing, probably fell onto her backside, got knocked out and hasn't waken up yet." He said.

Keith quickly pulled off Ashlynn's helmet, revealing a sultry pale face, complimented by un-regulation, short blonde hair. Ashlynn had full pink lips, a small well shaped nose, and a sleek forehead, befitted with two sapphire orbs. Keith placed his armored hand on her cheek, and suddenly her eyes flittered open.

"Is this real or is this still my fantasy?" she asked.

"Though, if this was still my fantasy your armor would be, misplaced," Ashlynn joked as Keith helped her to her feet.

"I bet." Keith said, handing Ashlynn her helmet, and then her weapon.

Keith looked around at the Spartans. "Three down, four more to go." He said, referring to re-grouping with the Spartans.

Spartan 012, Kane looked around at his surroundings. Cody, Caden and Rachel stood nearby. They had all awakened in a small river, near a large trunk of a massive tree. The area was teeming with strange forms of life.

Kane shrugged at Rachel's earlier question. "I have no idea where the other's are, dead for all we know." He said.

"We must carry on with the mission." He said.

Suddenly a fierce roar tore through the surrounding trees. The roar sent chills down Kane's backside.

"Now, what the _fuck_ was that?" he barked, his BR sweeping back and forth where the source of the noise originated. The other three Spartans had tensed up, and all four of them had formed a small formation to protect themselves.

Suddenly a massive form broke trough the brush, jumping over a massive fallen tree. The creature landed onto the earth, snarling at the Spartans. This creature was easily 10 feet tall and 20 feet long. It had six long legs, and two fingers and an opposable thumb on each paw. The creature was distinctly feline like, even though it had no hair and had sleek black skin. Its chiseled body was quite muscled; the muscles seemed to be perfect for protracted runs and leaps. Its head was large, and its upper lip curled backwards for maximum teeth extension. It also has an armored neck and back, a massive distensible jaw, and twenty-three centimeter long sharp teeth. Like its skin the creature's teeth were eerily obsidian. It had two menacing yellow feline eyes, ten sensory quills that sprouted from sections of armor it's plating that encircled the rear of its skull. As the best pawed the ground, the colorful quills flared slightly, making it more menacing. It also had two leaf shaped black flaps extending from the back of the skull that could also flare up, each of the ten quills was attached to a similar flap on the side of it's head, three quills on one larger flap, and two more on a smaller flap, on each side of it's face. An armored tail flicked angrily behind the creature's backside.

"Should we shoot it?" Caden asked, in an unmistakable Irish accent.

The creature roared as if to answer his question, and then surged forward, running incredibly fast at them.

"Yes!" Cody yelled, taking aim and firing off a round from his rifle. The beast seemed to sense what was about to happen, and dodged to the left, the bullets completely missing it. By then the other Spartans began firing their weapons, some of the bullets tearing into the massive creature. Dark blood splashed down its hide, but it didn't seem to notice.

The monster reached Kane first. Time seemed to slow around Kane for a moment. He saw every leaf fall through the air, every piece of soil upturned into the air, every smoking shell fling itself into the air before disappearing, but yet he couldn't get out of the way in time. Next thing he knew the black blur of death had plowed into him. The air left Kane's lungs, and instantly his shields were instantly depleted, the bar on his HUD representing their energy level completely gone, and flashing red. An annoying beeping sound echoed through Kane's helmet as he fell back into the ground, muddling his thoughts even more as pain arced through his chest.

Kane knew that if he didn't act fast this thing could tear through his armor, or worse tear him apart while he was still inside it. All the sounds around him were muffled and his vision was flecked with white spots, but Kane could still hear the dull burp of gunfire and feel the creature shudder above him. Its massive head came into view and it bit into his shoulder. Kane felt pressure, but the creature seemed unable to bite through his tough armor. Keith's arm shot-forward and he pulled his BR up. Kane pulled the trigger; feeling intense anger that this creature thought that it could kill him, a Spartan.

"Die you overgrown pussy-cat! GET SOME!" he yelled, firing off more shots. The creature gave another ear-splitting roar, and jumped back, the shots clearly giving it intense pain.

Kane struggled to his feet only to see the monster leap off into the brush, roaring as it fled.

"Yeah, run you stupid little bitch!" he said. Kane was about to relax when suddenly the beast returned, but this time it wasn't alone, two more of the hulking predators ran beside it.

"Oh shit." Kane said; raising his BR up once again and firing everything he had.


	4. Chapter Four: Memories

Chapter Four: Memories

Keith sprinted through the lush jungle as fast as he could. His armored feet padded on the lively forest floor, or cleared the many roots and other obstacles in his way as he ran. He breathed heavily as he sprinted, his green armor a blur of motion. Running next to him were three other Spartans, their green armored bodies pumping as fast as his own. Only Michael stood out, with his obsidian colored armor, Michael had always been the darker one of Hammer Team, and thinking back Keith didn't know much about the Spartan.

A few minutes ago the four Spartans had found each other and were about to head out when loud shots had filled the air. The Spartans had quickly decided it was most likely their comrades in danger and had headed toward the source of the noise as fast as their augmented bodies would allow them. Michael ran ahead of the Spartans, he was clearly the fastest of the group, but Keith remembered his days on Reach and knew the Spartan named Lucy had been the fastest out of all the Spartans. A powerful SRS99C-S2 AMB Sniper Rifle magnetically attached to his back. Ammon carried an M319 IGL, aka Grenade Launcher on his own backside. Ashlynn carried an M41SSR MAV, Rocket Launcher and Spartan Laser cannon; she was the team's heavy artillery.

As Keith thought about Ashlynn, his mind's eye focused on his childhood. Keith and Ashlynn had both been born on the planet Madrigal. The pair of them had both grown up orphans living in a small and pleasant orphanage. Keith and Ashlynn had been inseparable, they had done everything together. Every summer they would spend all day playing tennis on the old courts, or they would go for a swim on the bay; their favorite time to swim was during storms. Sometimes they would swim out past the breaker and float on one of the large metal floating skiffs. Keith remembered lying next to Ashlynn and watching the stormy sky above. When they had turned six Dr. Halsey had taken them from their orphanage, promising that she would be able to give them a home, with real parents, and that the two would be able to stay together happily. Halsey hadn't been telling the whole truth. Instead they both had been put through rigorous training as kids, their bodies had been augmented and changed, made more powerful, and they had been encased in MJOLNIR Mark IV armor, they had been turned into the perfect soldiers, into weapons.

Instead of swimming together and playing Ashlynn and Keith had become squad-mates, they had seen many battles, and watched many friends die. Together they had blasted away many enemies, leaving no mission unfinished, but their attraction for each other, they had never had any time to pursue it, and sometimes Keith thought of how their lives could have been different if they had stayed on Madrigal, and lived as normal people; except Madrigal had been glassed three years ago by the Covenant. Sometimes Keith had to remind himself that fact, it felt unreal to him, that so many planets had been glassed. If he and Ashlynn had stayed on Madrigal maybe they would have had a good life, maybe they would have become a couple and had gotten married, but one day they both would have been turned to slag like everything else, and that was why Keith and Ashlynn fought in this war, to protect their own race from destruction.

Keith turned his helmet to the side and watched Ashlynn run for a moment, she looked so graceful, so at peace, it almost reminded him of when they used to float on the skiff and she would stare up at the sky. Keith shook his head to stay focused on the task at hand. The shots were getting closer, and they could feel the ground shaking beneath their armored heels. A massive root obscured the Spartan's paths, and they were forced to climb over it and slide down the other side. As Keith slid to the ground he saw them: Kane, Caden, Cody and Rachel, they were all alive, but they weren't alone. Three massive creatures were attacking them, and by the looks of it the four Spartans might actually be loosing.

Kane had switched from his BR to his M90 Close Assault Weapon System, pump action shotgun. When Kane pumped a shot gun you knew you could kiss your ass goodbye. He took aim and fired off another round at one of the massive creatures, the rounds tearing into its side.

Keith, Michael, Ashlynn and Ammon quickly fell in line opening fire on the massive beasts. "Those are Thanator's, the equivalent of Pandora's apex land hunters." She whispered in his head.

Michael ran sprinted off incredibly fast at the nearest Thanator, his sniper rifle still on his back.

"What the hell is he doing?" Keith shouted. Kane heard the backup fire and turned his head to Keith.

"What he always does." Ashlynn said, coolly, firing off a round from the M6C Magnum pistol she kept on her hip, which is what she used when she didn't want to waste ammo on her big guns.

"Hey Keith, nice of you guys to drop by!" he yelled over the roar of gunfire.

Keith nodded at Kane, and then directed his gaze back to Michael. The black armored Spartan neared the nearest Thanator and then leapt into the air with all of his might. A long wrist-blade slid out of each of Michael's armored wrists, it was a special upgrade he had designed himself. Michael was also the CQC captain and the team's sniper. He landed on the neck of the beast, and dug one of his blades into the back of the creature's head. He then jabbed his other blade into its head again, and repeatedly began jabbing them in, splattering its blood onto his armor. The Thanator roared in pain, and suddenly shook itself, forcing Michael to fly off of its back, and roll on the ground.

Keith had had enough, he motioned to Ammon. "Take that thing out Spartan!" he said, continuing to concentrate his fire on the beast. Ammon nodded and hefted up his Grenade Launcher. He took aim and then fired, shooting off a grenade in the Thanator's direction. The Thanator spied the movement of the grenade and turned to see what it was. In that exact moment the grenade went off, exploding in the beast's face. The Thanator flew backwards, most of its face incinerated completely off. Keith motioned with his arms and the three Spartans with him fell in line, drawing closer to the other four Spartans and the other two creatures.

One of the Thanator's roared when it saw its comrade fall. It suddenly pounced on Rachel, knocking one of her M7/Caseless Submachine Gun's out of her hands. The beast lashed out attempting to bite into her shoulder.

"Ashlynn!" he roared. But she was already on top of it. She hefted her Spartan Laser cannon onto her shoulder and took aim. Keith watched as the thin red beam shot out of the weapon and took aim on the side of the Thanator. A soft sizzling noise filled the air and slowly got louder as the laser readied to be fired. A few seconds the laser went off, a loud sizzling sound filled the air, followed by a crack of ozone and a huge crimson column of energy shot out of the rifle and smashed into the Thanator. The Thanator didn't stand a chance. The cannon blasted a hole clean through its side, and it collapsed upon Rachel not moving.

The last Thanator charged at Caden, ready to tear him to shreds. Caden quickly activated his hologram armor upgrade and sprinted away, leaving his hologram where he was standing. The Thanator charged harmlessly through the hologram, and bellowed angrily. By now all eight of the Spartan's concentrated fire was on the creature and the bullets were literally tearing the creature's hide to shreds. Keith took aim with his rifle, aiming for the creature's head. He then fired off three shots, pumping them into the Thanator's skull. The creature bellowed and then fell over, clearly dead.

Keith sighed in relief. "Everyone okay?" he asked, stepping over the corpse of one of the huge beasts to stand near the others.

Cody and Caden helped pull Rachel out from beneath the body of another Thanator.

"Yes, just a bit grossed out." Rachel said.

Keith nodded; he felt some of the earlier pressure that had been on his mind slowly fading away. His team was alive and that was all that mattered, Hammer Team was okay.

"Alright people, it's time I explained what's going on here." He said briskly.

"While we were flying over this damned jungle our ship went down as you know, the natives somehow put an arrow through his skull. But as we all know their arrows are hardly efficient enough to go through the glass of the cockpit, that and we were extremely high up in the air. That only leaves on possible scenario. The Navi' that killed our pilot Jim must have been flying right above our ship, obscured in the clouds, and if he was right above us he wouldn't of appeared on the radar, though the radar was fluxuating slightly if I remember. Anyway, he must have swooped down and broken the glass somehow, either with a stone or large blunt weapon. There could have been possibly two of them, maybe one to break the glass and the other to take the shot. Now that we know how they did it we have to figure out what we do next." He said, looking at the faceless helmets of all his teammates as he finished.

"That's easy; we take the fight to them and make them pay." Kane said.

Keith shrugged. "They did attack us, and we do have the rights to fight back but I'm not sure now if that's the best course of action. We still need to at least try to negotiate with them." Keith said.

"Fuck that! Sorry, excuse me Captain, screw that, we should just take what we want and shoot any of the bastards that get in our way." Kane said.

"Watch it Spartan, we will do as I say." He said, his voice taking a cold tone as he spoke.

"Yes sir," Kane replied.

"Now, this is what I propose. We go ahead and attempt to fill out our objective. We have Miara change our NAV marker to where we were supposed to set up our LZ. We will go there, clear the area so some Pelicans can get down here and that will be that. Once the base is up and running again we can go and mingle with the natives, whatever that may be." Keith said.

The Spartans around Keith nodded their heads, they understood. Keith was about to ask Miara to switch the NAV marker but a second later he saw it change.

"Was already on it Keith." She said; he could detect a note of amusement in her voice.

"I don't like it when you do that, guess what I'm about to say or do." Keith said.

"Well who knows how long we will be sharing this space so you better get used to it." Miara said.

"You sound like my ex girlfriend." Keith joked. Miara didn't reply; Keith figures she was busy calculating something; Hammer Team then moved out, each of them patrolling the area with their eyes and the barrels of their weapons. As they made their way through the jungle Keith couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. Every once in a while he would see something out of the corner of his eye, a flash of bright blue. He would immediately turn his body their, pointing at the area with his gun, but every time he did he would find nothing, just empty trees.

"This place creeps me out." Kane muttered.

"Quit the chatter Spartan." Keith barked.

Fifteen minutes later the Spartans reached their destination. As they moved toward it the trees thinned. Keith looked down, seeing pavement beneath his feet. But it was hardly pavement anymore; the jungle had clearly overtaken it. The pavement was cracked into thousands of tiny pieces, and massive roots moved through it. There were many trees that had completely broken through the pavement; it was like standing in a jungle that had once been civilization. Through the trees Keith could see what looked like a massive base, it was so covered with vines it looked more like a large square bush than anything. Here and there through the trees there would be some sort of old human technology left untouched, covered in vines as well, or a tree growing next to it. He saw bulldozers, and other machines. He didn't see any air craft, but knew that they would all be in the hanger bay, which was attached to the base.

"Alright, so how do we clear the LZ?" Caden asked.

"Leave that to me." Ashlynn said stepping forward. She unclipped something from her belt and showed it to him.

"We blow ourselves a hole. I'll rig an explosion big enough to cover a radius big enough for some Pelicans to land in. The middle of the explosion will be a crater, but as it moves outwards it will just destroy the surrounding trees, giving us an LZ." She said.

Keith nodded. "Sounds good, how far do we have to stand from the blast?" he asked. But suddenly a new NAV marker appeared on his HUD.

"I was already calculating that. Stand exactly where the NAV marker is and you should be fine." Miara said. Keith relayed what she said to the other Spartans and they all nodded, beginning to move there way over there. Keith stood with Ashlynn as she began her work. She started by placing four explosives in key spots. Then she began the timers, each one slightly different so she would have time to rig the rest. When she was finished she motioned for Keith to follow her.

"Come on we have four minutes till the blast." She said, already beginning to sprint away from the explosives. Keith fell in line and they ran as fast as they could through the foliage. When they reached the NAV marker Keith realized that it was a large distance from the explosive, at least a few miles.

"Should be any time now." Ashlynn said.

Keith looked over to Ammon who was standing about ten feet in front of where the NAV marker indicated.

"Ammon, what are you doing?" Keith said.

"Getting a better view, where you guys are standing there is that dam tree in the way." He said.

"But your ten feet past the NAV marker, the explosion could hit you." Keith said sighing.

Ammon laughed. "There is no way that the explosion can reach me all the way over here." He said.

"Just watch Captain, I'll show y-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence as the explosions suddenly went off. A massive tremor shook through the ground, and in the distance a wall of fire was flying toward them, and up in to the sky. Keith watched as the fire overtook trees and seemed to turn them into dust. A wave of solid air and sound moved past the explosion, cutting through trees like a blade. Before Ammon could move the wave smashed into him and then died out, stopping precisely where the NAV marker indicated. Ammon had been launched into the air, he flew about twenty feet backwards, tumbling head over toe until he smashed into a tree and slid down the bark.

All the Spartans rushed over to him, but by the time they reached him Ammon was already on his feet.

"Well that didn't feel good." He said, brushing off his armor. The Spartans began to laugh, apparently finding the situation hilarious.

"I'm glad you guys think that was so funny, I could of died you know." Ammon said.

Chuckling Keith asked Miara to contact On the Horizon's bridge.

"Once second," Miara said.

"Connected." She said.

"Admiral Brian?" Keith asked.

"Keith!" the voice of Brian said through his Com.

"You're alive! That's great! We saw your Pelican go down and then we lost radio contact with you, did you not think to tell us you were okay earlier?" Brian said.

"Sorry sir, we were busy fighting off some local wildlife and clearing you your LZ." He said.

"That's fine Spartan, is the LZ cleared?" he asked.

"Yes sir, send some Pelican's down here and we can get this party started." He said.

"Good work Spartan. I'll have you debrief me on what transpired down there in a few hours, when I'm groundside myself."

"Sounds good Admiral, we will see you then. Spartan 032 out." He said before ending his connection with the bridge.


End file.
